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MP gets on the bus to show city transport's OK

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Published Date: 21 May 2008
A CITY MP has defended transport in the Capital after coming under a barrage of abuse on his own blog.
Edinburgh North and Leith MP Mark Lazarowicz had written a piece praising the Edinburgh transport network after being inundated with complaints about the situation.

He told constituents that he felt there was no problem with connections between Le
ith and the city centre and gave an example of a day when he used the bus service on several occasions.

He said: "One of my most regular, and grumpiest, contributors to my blog suggested that I didn't appreciate the difficulties of travelling across Edinburgh sometimes.

"So I thought it might be useful to list what and where I had been that same day."

He went on to cite several journeys across the Capital which he said he completed in a short time and little expense.

However, the reader in question disputed the Labour MP's case study.

He said: "Well, with all due respect, most of those journeys were within one part of the city and outside of the rush hour.

"I also suspect that you're not doing those journeys every day. The sort of journey I take every day, from Leith Walk out to the Gyle via Princes Street and Haymarket is rather different."





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  • Last Updated: 21 May 2008 11:12 AM
  • Source: Edinburgh Evening News
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Transport
 
1

Hibernia,

21/05/2008 12:08:54
The transport system in Edinburgh is rubbish. End of.
2

Leila,

Edinburgh 21/05/2008 12:22:00
#1: Of course it isn't rubbish - it's one of the best in Britain.
3

Dunc,

Edinburgh 21/05/2008 12:22:20
He seems proud to have used a bus several times in one day and being able to visit lots of places too. I'll bet he sat upstars at the front. Maybe he should extend his experiment to a year and see if he still thinks feels the same.
4

David Harrington,

Edinburgh 21/05/2008 12:28:53
Although the bus service in Edinburgh is in general very good, cross city journeys can be very slow; that is why we need a tram network and more use of suburban rail. Also, the council can only do so much to prevent buses getting caught in traffic congestion
5

Rod,

Kirkliston - European Village Jewel (2016) 21/05/2008 12:31:52
#3 I'll bet he sat upstars at the front

I am a frequent user of service 13 from the Powderhall end of McDonald Road to Princes Street and regularly see Lazarowicz on it. He usually gets off in Gt King Street. I also occasionally see him......shock horror......walking yes, actually walking in McDonald Road with 2 children who I assume are his own.
6

Jenny MacArthur,

21/05/2008 12:43:25
1 Hibernia - typical moaning whiner, regardless of the facts. Survey after survey gives our bus system awards for being the best in the UK. But YOU know better eh? Big-mouthed idiots, you bores who complain about everything.
7

Hibernia,

21/05/2008 12:44:11
#2 it is rubbish. I use the No.22 and No.35 and it can take an eternity (ok roughly 50 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes to get from the Gyle to Leith despite greenways and the dedicated busway. Also the No.35 is notorious for buses not showing up or being so late its stupid.
8

Hibernia,

21/05/2008 12:45:08
#6 I use the buses so I am well aware how flaming bad their services are.
9

Hibernia,

21/05/2008 12:47:01
#6 ps as you dont know me please refrain from calling me A)big mouthed B)an idiot and if your so bored can I suggest you dont come on the site.
10

A Leither,

21/05/2008 12:48:45
#2 - take up cycling. I do the journey from the Shore to the Gyle in 30 mins. Saves on the increased bus-fares and I don't need to pay gym fees to keep fit :-)

I've seen Mr Lazarowicz on the 22 going down Leith Walk many times over the years, in rush hour too. Only MP I've ever seen use the public transport system in Edinburgh !
11

A Leither,

21/05/2008 12:49:16
#7 - take up cycling. I do the same journey to the Gyle in 30 mins. Saves on the increased bus-fares and I don't need to pay gym fees to keep fit :-)

I've seen Mr Lazarowicz on the 22 going down Leith Walk many times over the years, in rush hour too. Only MP I've ever seen use the public transport system in Edinburgh !
12

Hibernia,

21/05/2008 12:51:25
#11 any chance of a backie????
13

Mr Crisps,

Musselburgh 21/05/2008 13:05:02
The bus system is good, but supplementing it with trams will help solve town-centre congestion and speed up trips for people making journeys like 'Hibernia'.
14

Bored,

21/05/2008 13:13:26
#7 Never mind. The trams are comming and they will get you from Leith to the Gyle in no time at all.
15

Top Floor,

21/05/2008 13:14:35
Hibernia, you'll love it when the trams come, perfect for your journeys.
16

Niadh,

Edinburgh 21/05/2008 13:35:25
#14, 15 and if the council gets their way nobody else will be allowed to use the roads around the trams for fear of accidents.
It's a good way of forcing people onto this overpriced tram set.

I don't use the buses in the city often as I cycle but when I have I have never had any problems with them.
Why replace them with a tram?
17

gorgie resident,

21/05/2008 13:50:28
We have a very good bus service in Edinburgh but there will always be some people who will complain, and are never happy with anything just moaners
18

Irn-Bruce,

Edinburgh 21/05/2008 13:51:48
Hibernia - Are you the "...most regular, and grumpiest, contributors to my blog...", to which Mr. Lazarowicz refers?

Seriously, though, IT'S ALL RELATIVE! Journeys made by most forms of transport, almost anywhere in the UK, are getting less and less "fun", as more and more people seem to want/need to get to more and more places.

Getting around Edinburgh, on the buses in particular, is still a lot better than virtually everywhere else in the UK.
19

Hibernia,

21/05/2008 13:58:27
#20 no I am not contributing to his blog sorry - I think it might be Jenny McArthur!
20

Kirsty Boyd-Williamson,

New Town 21/05/2008 14:02:15
>14 || Never mind. The trams are comming and they will get you from Leith to the Gyle in no time at all.

With only 16 intermediate tram stops between Ocean Terminal and The Gyle Centre, Hibernia will be trilling away like a happy little lark as he speeds on his way, dreaming up his next whinge with which to amuse us.
21

Kirsty Boyd-Williamson,

New Town - near a tram stop 21/05/2008 14:07:14
>16 || And here was me thinking that the No 22 was the most perfect bus service in the world according to many anti-trammers. Maybe none of them use it and see what Hibernia sees.

You surely are not implying that many of the 'facts' used by the Anti Tramista Collective Against Everything are.....made up?
Surely not?
22

Angus R,

21/05/2008 14:09:02
Well i was late for work this morning as the 22 drove straight passed me as it was too full. Low and behold who's sitting on it taking up MY space!! Mark Lazarowicz!! perhaps Mr Lazarowicz if you would care to use a taxi next time i won't be late for work.
23

Annoyingboi,

Edinburgh 21/05/2008 14:15:31
You think the transport system is rubbish just now (I actually think its OK), just wait until the trams arrive.

TRAMS IN EDINBURGH = RUBBISH TRANSPORT SYSTEM AND CHRONIC TRANSPORT ISSUES
24

PaulB,

Edinburgh 21/05/2008 14:23:31
Edinburgh has a fantastic bus service - better and cheaper than Glasgow's. Mr Lazarowicz regularly uses buses in the city and I have seen him walking several times. Give the guy a break. I may not be a fan of his party, but he does a great job representing his constituents, which is more than a lot of his colelagues do.
25

Hibernia,

21/05/2008 14:32:26
Im sure some parts of Edinburgh receive a great bus service ie the likes of the No.26 route lol!!
26

911 was an inside job.,

21/05/2008 15:17:04
Try getting on a bus without a police escort.

I prefer to drive because I don't have to listen to feral kids and their chipmunk music.
27

Bored,

21/05/2008 15:39:33
To all the environmentalists and car driver haters (I can think of one in particular), the rapidly rising price of petrol will soon make private transport unaffordable and everyone will be using public transport. Then our currently good public transport system will be tested.
28

Andrew,

21/05/2008 17:06:03
Should the headline not be "MP gets on the bus......" FOR A DAY????
29

Ian down under,

Kawerau 22/05/2008 02:08:18
Some of your 'anti-tram' readers surprise me. They work extremely well in Manchester, Sheffield and Nottingham. They are a huge asset in Dublin and few European cities are without them. What makes you think they won't work in Edinburgh.
They won't solve the problem on their own but they will be a valuable part of the solution. They've actually been too timid in their use. They should have gone underground from Haymarket on the same route but with a stop where the Waverley Market [or whatever it's called now] to give direct access to the Waverley. Do this and add some re-vamped suburban rail routes and Edinburgh will move more freely and I would be amazed if usage of public transport didn't soar, after all it has done so everywhere it has been really improved.
I remember the naysayers in the 1980s who said the Bathgate rail service would be a flop.......We don't hear much from them now or have they just moved onto tram hatred.
There is also this wee issue called global warming,and rising petrol prices and pollution and ........I think the modern expression is 'it's a no brainer'.
30

Leila,

Edinburgh 22/05/2008 09:24:55
#31: If the tram route, supplemented by suburban rail routes, had been as you suggest, I imagine everyone in Edinburgh would have been right behind it. Unfortunately that's not what we're getting.
31

oh dear,

Edinburgh 30/05/2008 14:16:07
I'm not the happiest about the trams, but they're here and we're going to have to live with them.

As far as the buses are concerned, Edinburgh's service is FAR better than when I grew up with in Belfast (where it's impossible to get from one side of the city to the other on one bus, AND it's expensive to boot!) but on Wednesday past I waited over a half hour for a 34 in one direction, and almost a half hour for a 34 in the opposite direction later that day. This is supposedly a 15 minute service! I even arrived at the stop early in the event the bus was also early...but it wasn't to be.

I did, hoever, think it would be nice if bus drivers who were running late offered an apology to passengers boarding the service...

 

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